Summing it up

July 15, 2010


This isn’t our summer. We knew if before it even started.


Sure, we had a busy, fun-filled week with our visitor, and have plans—many plans—-coming up that whisper of escape and sun and splashing and laughter.

But, when one child is suffering, we are all suffering. Even if we smile and laugh and splash.

We now have a diagnosis after an exhausting, tear-filled Wednesday: social anxiety, with a side dish of separation anxiety. Not terribly uncommon among adolescents, though not so extreme for most.

The bad news is it won’t go away on its own.

The good news is we have a plan to move forward that includes lots of outside support from people not so emotionally attached as we are. In other words, people who can deal with this without crying (yeah, hi, I’m a crier).

I just know I’d give just about anything to have my smiling girl back.

Photobucket
Summer is calling.
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Filed Under: Fairly Odd Kids, Fairly Odd Me, Health n Food Talk 33 Comments

When the walls come tumbling down

June 29, 2010


My youngest is almost six. The baby gates were removed long ago, as were the drawer latches. The outlet covers are there mainly because I’m too lazy to remove them, not because I really think they are needed anymore.


And, oh yeah, the bookcases are still anchored to the wall, probably forever.


Except they aren’t.

We found this out last night when D, my almost six year old, tried to reach something on a higher shelf and pulled his six-foot-tall bookcase down on top of him.

The anchor behind it? Snapped like a small twig.

I was in the next room, tucking the girls into bed when I heard a scream and loud BANG! I ran into his room and, to my horror, a scene that will be forever seared into my brain, saw that bookcase lying on the ground, no child in sight.

Oh please, oh please, oh please is all I could think as I pushed the bookcase up. My husband, who was right behind me, jumped over me and into a pile of shattered glass from the picture frames. Our son screamed in fright and pain and reached up to him.

If there is any “good” in a bookcase falling on a child, it’s that this particular bookcase was a piece of crap. The shelving “floated” on plastic clips so, instead of pinning my child to the ground and breaking every bone, they collapsed on impact. The wood was cheap particleboard, not heavy hardwood. The only books on it were on the bottom two shelves; the upper shelves were just a few picture frames and nicknacks.

And our little guy escaped with just some bruises and cuts. A quick trip to the ER and an x-ray confirmed that he may be sore for a few days, but no major problems (mad props to Norwood Hospital and Dr. Kim for their amazing ER).

My husband had checked and replaced all the bookcase anchors that had grown old and brittle, though this one, on a bookcase we were tossing just “as soon as we buy a new one” may have been overlooked.

So use our late night experience to your benefit and make sure you don’t have any anchors that are no longer holding your furniture to the wall. We were so, so, so very lucky. I can’t even think about what would have happened if our luck had run out.


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Filed Under: Fairly Odd Husband, Fairly Odd Kids, Fairly Odd Me, Health n Food Talk 48 Comments

Hitting the couch

June 17, 2010


It took me 42 years, but today I finally found myself sitting face-to-face with a therapist. For the first time.

I probably should have done this long ago, like during those dark days without sleep, when young children were threatening to run away with my sanity.

Seeing a therapist is powerful stuff, even considering it wasn’t me she wanted to see. Instead, I was there with one of my children. I talked, she listened. My child talked, she listened. She thought, asked questions and gave us some exercises we can do at home. Seems so simple and basic.

And, yet after one hour, my child, who has been a shadow of their former selves, returned home brighter, happier and less scared.

We’ve got a long road ahead of us, but it’s a good start. And the fact that my child feels like they have a bit of control over their issues makes our whole family seem brighter, happier, less scared too.

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Filed Under: Fairly Odd Kids, Health n Food Talk 20 Comments
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